Acknowledgments

Barry Alter and I began talking in December 1992.  I have benefited in more ways than I can number.  Our conversations will never end, because, as Barry has insisted, we are in each other’s hearts and lives forever.

The following have provided practical assistance in bringing In the Midst to completion: audio engineer Mitch Hanley, independent producer Lisa Morehouse, and cartographer Matthew Hartzell.  Daryl Ireland and Eva Pascal picked up the baton on the last lap to create an interactive Internet home for the project.

My thanks to Prof. Dana Robert, who offered me formal affiliation as a Visiting Researcher at Boston University’s School of Theology and its Center for Global Christianity & Mission.  Both she and Ada Focer provided historical context as well as much welcome enthusiasm for the project. And thanks to Martha Smalley, curator and librarian of the Day Missions Collection at the Divinity Library at Yale University. She brought the work of Prof. Robert to my attention.

I was fortunate to get feedback on parts of In the Midst from leaders of and participants in the following workshops and retreats: Big Shed’s  “Digging In” at Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies in July 2012 and UnionDocs’ Full Spectrum Storytelling Intensive in December 2013. Julia Barton lent her expert ears as an AIR mentor in 2012.   I’m grateful to David Hollinger for the invitation he extended to listen to his Danforth Distinguished Lectures in November 2013 at Washington University on “Protestant Foreign Missions and Secularization in American Society.”

Interviews with the following increased my understanding of Barry’s life and choices: Aaron Alter, Bett Worcester Alter, Thomasin Alter, Tom Alter, Steve Alter, Ellen Stewart Alter, John Alter, Robert Alter, Molly Biswas, Alfie Campbell, Ashoke Chatterjee, Marty Alter Chen, Chuck Forman, David Hollinger, and Stan Leavy.

Thanks to my family and friends, who have listened to me talk about this project for years. Many thanks also to those belonging to the vast network of family and friends that Barry Alter helped create and grow.  We are all the beneficiaries of Barry’s decision to live her life fully in the midst.

Catherine A. Corman, Ph.D.